1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for teaching and practicing batting skills used in baseball, softball, or any other sports which require hitting a ball.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Many games, including the game of baseball require that a ball be skillfully hit with a bat, or stick. It is known to provide mechanical apparatus, i.e., pitching machines which assist in the delivery, and re-delivery of baseballs to a batter in a manner which permits a batter to practice, and a hitting instructor to teach proper batting. Unfortunately, such prior art devices are extremely costly and area intensive and therefore are typically only utilized in the commercial setting.
Certain machines are known which throw a ball at a batter standing some distance away, such as the batting machine known as The Casey. These batting machines are, in effect, mechanical pitchers. While they effectively simulate a thrown ball, they have a number of disadvantages for many applications. They are costly to purchase and bulky to transport. They require electricity to operate, and this is not always available at many locations, such as ball fields, where the device would often be used. In addition, the balls hit by the batter must be recovered or "shagged" for the machine to be refilled. The machine is not suited for indoor use in a person's home.
Besides automated batting machines, batting skills are practiced using static "tees" which tee or hold the ball up above ground level. The batter stands next to the tee and attempts to strike the stationary ball held on the tee. Again, the balls must be shagged or recovered to allow practice to continue. This renders tees impractical for a single person to use since the task of recovering the balls quickly becomes tiresome. In addition, tees cannot generally be used indoors unless a net is positioned in front of the tee to catch the batted balls. Again, this makes it impractical or inconvenient to use the device in restricted indoor spaces.
Thus, there is a need for a batting practice device which is simple and quick to install which is durable, which may be easily adjusted, and which does not require shagging of batted balls. Most ball fields have numerous vertical posts or poles, i.e., the poles used as part of the backstop or the fence used in the chain link fences surrounding the fields. In addition, many residential neighborhoods have similar poles. For example, there are poles supporting street signs, stop signs, basketball backboards, etc. Thus a device which could be easily attached to a pole would be valuable and could be widely used if the ball were tethered to it in a tethered manner. In addition, a device which could be fastened to a flat surface, such as a wall, or partition, would be far more flexible and valuable.
Various batting practice devices comprise elongated arms attached to poles which suspend a ball from the arm in a tether type fashion. Such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,454,275 to Pontone, U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,864 to Aldrich, U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,612 to Hammond, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,450 to Beintema. The patent to Pontone discloses a ball game apparatus comprising an L-shaped arm having one of the branches inserted in a pedestal mountable on a wall and the other of the branches horizontally positionable with respect to the pedestal and supports a string mounted ball which rotates about the horizontal branch when struck by a bat. Aldrich discloses a tethered ball rotationally mounted on a wand, rotating on a handle. Centrifugal motion of the wand around the handle raises the ball to a position of delivery to a batter to swing at the ball. The patent to Hammond discloses a ball batting apparatus using a rotary member journaled for rotation about a shaft, and a flexible linkage holds a ball in a downhanging position from the rotary member. When the ball is struck with a bat it will move in an arcuate motion about the axis of the rotary member. A backboard mounts the rotary member to a vertical post. The backboard is held by U-bolts which hold the post against a channel formed by spaced-apart parallel spacer bars positioned upon the backboard. Beintema discloses an elongated support arm having support means including an elongated chain which is wrapped around a post and has one end realeasably retained on the support arm against a sliding movement of the chain. The other end of the chain is connected to a bolt which may be drawn through a handle as the handle is rotated to tighten the chain to the post. A ball is suspended from the support arm by an eyelet containing cord to serve as a target for batting practice. A handle which is releasable by hand holds the ball on a reduced diameter stud member at a free end of the support arm.
The patent to Pontone is limited to a single, permanent installation. The patent to Hammond, journaled to rotate about a shaft, would not withstand the punishment of constant hitting because of the fragile nature of the shaft. The patent to Aldrich would require a second person to hold the device while it was being used for batting practice. The patent to Beintema consists of an elaborate gear and chain system for adjusting the height of the device.